Gadkari seeks support on Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill

New Delhi: Stating that 65 per cent of the people killed in road accidents belong to the age group of 18-35, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday called for cooperation from all political parties to pass the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill.

Gadkari said: “Safety of citizens is not a political issue, hence the Bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha in April 2017, should also be passed in the Rajya Sabha.”

The Bill amends the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to address issues such as third party insurance, regulation of taxi aggregators, and road safety.

Under the Act, the liability of the third party insurer for motor vehicle accidents is unlimited. The Bill caps the maximum liability for third party insurance in case of a motor accident at Rs. 10 lakh in case of death and at Rs 5 lakh in case of grievous injury.

The Bill provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.

He also said 786 black spots ( where most accidents take place) have been identified on the highways and road engineering work is done to rectify them. “About 189 spots have been rectified. Rectification measures at 256 spots have been sanctioned which are in various stages of implementation,” he said.

The minister also said Rs. 12,000 crore has been allocated to rectify the black spots.

He also said the Bill does not dilute state governments powers in registration of vehicles by involving the private parties.

Gadkari said the government has approved a National Road Safety Policy that provides measures to establish a road safety information database and ensuring safe road infrastructure.